Handwashing Materials:

How to Teach the Handwashing Presentation

Invite the child to do the work, remove jewelry, roll up sleeves, and put on an apron.

Pick up the water pitcher and proceed to the faucet. Fill the pitcher 3/4 of the way with warm water. Bring the pitcher back to the bowl. Pour slowly, aiming for the center of the bowl. Place the pitcher back in its place, or to the side.

Immerse both hands into the water, putting hands flat and palms down to get both sides wet. Let your hands sit in the water. Shake hands over the bowl to release any drops. Then lift them out over the bowl.

Pick up the soap with the dominant hand, wet the soap, and rub between the palms. Replace the soap in the dish and continue rubbing your hands front and back. Be sure to go past the wrists and in between your fingers to the tips. Immerse both hands in the water to rinse, palms down. Turn hands over and rinse the back of the hands.

Wet the nail brush, and then brush it over the soap several times. Cup the hands with palms facing towards you. Scrub the brush back and forth, with the brush facing down and the hands closer to the water. Turn the hand and brush the tops of nails. Repeat with the other hand. Rinse the brush, shake gently to get the remaining water out, and put the brush back.

Rinse hands again, lift them out of water, and shake off excess water. Take a towel and dry your hands, making sure to get in between the fingers. Place the towel to the side of the bowl, letting the child know that you'll be using it to clean up.

Grasp both sides of the bowl and pour into the bucket. Bring the bowl back to the table and wipe up excess water with a sponge. Empty the bucket. Wipe the bucket and the pitcher with the sponge.

Wipe up any spills with the towel or sponge. Put the pitcher back into the bowl.

Take the towel to the dirty towel basket, and replace the towel with a fresh one for the next person to use.

Use a small amount of hand lotion and massage it slowly into your hands using the same motions used when washing the hands.

Roll down your sleeves and replace jewelry.

Ask the child if he would like a turn.

Additional Elements of the Montessori Handwashing Lesson

Below are more key ingredients of the traditional Montessori lesson. Understanding each of these elements will help when preparing the work for children.

Control of Error allows the child to take the lead in her own learning via direct feedback.

Visual discrimination – are your hands really clean?

Spilled water

Too much lotion

Too much soap

Damp hands

These Points of Interest engage a child more fully in the lesson. Be sure to draw his attention to them.

Water

Smell & texture of soap

Using a pitcher to pour

Bubbles

Dripping

Shaking hands

Nail brush bristles touching hands

These are the Direct Aims of the handwashing lesson.

Independence

Coordination

Order

Concentration

Indirect Aims of this lesson include the following.

Hand-Eye Work

Thermic discrimination with water temperature

Preparation for use of sensorial materials

Cleaning hands

Hygiene (Care of Self)

This practical life lesson als gives the child ample opportunity to develop her Language. Some words to explore with the lesson are – pitcher, bowl, tepid, warm, cool, bristle, fingernail, lather, foam, scum, and germs.

How do you teach the Montessori handwashing lesson? Do you use the traditional pitcher and basin, or do you take a different approach?

One of the first lessons in Montessori Early Childhood (3-6 years old) is the Transfer of Dry Goods. This Montessori practical life lesson is easy and inexpensive to put together in the classroom. It's also a great example of a practical life work that's easy to replicate at home.

Montessori Practical Life Lesson of Transferring Dry Goods

To set up this lesson, you want to use identical bowls and all like goods. This allows you to isolate the quality and difficulty of the activity for the child.

Possible dry goods to use with the lesson:

stones

pasta

beans

coins

beads

pom poms

corn kernels

pumpkin seeds

Transferring Dry Goods Approach

Invite the child to the work: “Today we're going to learn something new!” Take tray with bowls from shelf with both hands, lift so arms are even with waist and slowly carry to table and gently place down.

Trace surface area of each bowl saying, “This is a large dish and this is a large dish. This one is empty. This one is full.”

With dominant hand, slowly pick up a handful of objects from left bowl and transfer to empty bowl on the right. Continue until all objects are transferred and end with, “now this bowl is empty and this bowl is full.”

Repeat, moving objects back to original bowl. Then ask the child, “Would you like a turn?”

This Montessori Grace and Courtesy lesson is one of my favorite Montessori practical life lessons. The activity promotes such wonders like self regulation, balance, gross motor skills, calmness and grace. Plus it is a snap to integrate into your classroom or home.

How to Create the Line

I love this description from Info Montessori of how to create the line: “The “line” used during this exercise is a continuous and permanent shape in the environment. With its two straight lines and two lightly curved sides, an ellipse is what most environments have found to be the most suitable for this lesson.”

Montessori Grace and Courtesy Walk the Line Lesson

Ideally, the child walks on the line without shoes.

The width of the line should actually be a bit wider than a child's shoe. I have never seen a line that wide, so don't worry too much about that detail.

The line should be in plain view and should not have the children walking through or around any obstacles in the room.

Playing lovely classical music, or any calming music, is a wonderful addition. One of my instructors used this exercise as a way to bring the children together at the start of the day.

Demonstrate to the children how to walk on the line by having them sit on the line. Show them the slow movement and heel toe foot action.

Let the children know they can walk on the line whenever they would like to during the day.

Wait until the child has mastered simply walking on the line before adding any creative variations from the basket.

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Montessori Practical Life's Refined Tweezing Lesson continues fine motor development of the younger children in the Montessori classroom. I like to use a strawberry huller but there are other “tweezing” tools great for this work. Be creative with your refined tweezing tray!

Refined Tweezing Lesson

Ask child if he would like to try something new with tweezing today and bring him to the shelf to remove the tray.

Identify the items on the tray. “This is a pitcher. This is a pitcher. This is a bowl with stones.”

“This is a huller.” Fingers on one side and thumb on the other in the designated “finger” spots.

Demonstrate open and close. “Open. Close”

Ask child is he would like to try the hullers.

Pick up hullers with fingers on one side and thumb on the other and sort objects into respective pitchers. Slowly. Taking time to pause to hear the sound of the stones as they drop into the pitchers.

Pour stones back into bowl on left. If possible, use hullers (or tweezing instrument) to replaced into bowl.